Hold Up Those Naval Exercises

The U.S. Navy resumed military training exercises off the small Caribbean island of Vieques last weekend despite protest demonstrations on Vieques itself and in Puerto Rico, which otherwise administers the small island to its leeward side. While that was a legally permissible decision, it is one that the Pentagon should reconsider.

The Navy had the law on its side because a federal judge in Washington had previously declined to issue a temporary restraining order that had been requested by the Puerto Rican government. Puerto Rican officials have argued that the health of the island’s 9,400 inhabitants suffers from the heavy bombing and shelling that occur on the island’s military reservations during naval exercises. They cite high rates of cancer and heart disease among Vieques residents as their chief cause of concern.

Displaying remarkable political insensitivity, the Navy proceeded with last weekend’s exercises before it had the results of an evaluation of the Puerto Rican government’s claims by the Department of Health and Human Services. The Navy says the war games on Vieques are needed to ensure U.S. troops receive adequate training--training that may help them survive in battle. But how much harm to training would have been caused by waiting to renew bombing and shelling that may yet be shown to have an adverse affect on residents of the island? At the very least, a continued suspension of operations until the public health questions were answered might have gained the Navy some added public support in Puerto Rico.

In November, there will be a plebiscite on Vieques in which residents of the island itself will decide whether to keep the Navy and its money on the island or ask the Navy to leave. It will not be an easy choice because, if the Navy leaves, it is difficult to envision people finding new jobs on an island where unemployment already approaches 60%.

So it is not by any means a sure thing that the Navy will be asked to leave Vieques. In the meantime, it would be just plain good politics for the Navy, and the Defense Department as a whole, to try to be as good a neighbor as possible to the residents of the island. A suspension of war games would be a good way to start.